November 2006 posts

November 20, 2006

Are Your Ready for This?

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas."

October was the month I was working in the inimitable Deb Trotter's altered calendar. That cowgirl threw me for a loop with a Christmas theme in October! LOL. Actually, her calendar is ingenius. She is quite the '30s, 40s and '50s music aficionado - especially songs by Bing Crosby and his contemporaries. She selected 12 of her favs and assigned each artist one song for their month. Mine was "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" by Bing himself.

That wasn't all there was to Deb's theme. Her calendar of choice was one with paintings of Mark Rothko in it and she requested that we try our best to stick to the color combinations of the pieces represented in our section of the calendar. This was a distinct challenge for me. Not only was I trying to do Christmas when I was thinking pumpkins and skeletons, but I was having to think snow when I live in Texas, and use colors that rhyme with Rothko's red's yellows, oranges, blues and blacks! Yikes! For two weeks I stewed, him-hawed, and graciously balked. Finally, I started in and was pleasantly surprised at the fun I had making snow yellow, blue, or whatever. It turned out to be fun and the song was in my head and on my lips the whole time. By the time I mailed that calendar off, I was in a holiday mood, big time . . . Thanks, Deb!

Here are the other pages I did for her calendar:

The image on the left started with the copy of Rothko's painting with yellows and oranges which looked like the hot beach to me. On the right is where I painted the background using the same colors making the scene a White Chrismas.

On the right here is where the copy of Rothko's painting is with the reds, oranges, and greens. Now for Christmas, reds and greens are perfect -- but for snow? Well, it worked out ok, I guess. (I think IRL the greens on the two pages are more similar than in these scans - but maybe not.

Finally, the piece that goes with the first scan I posted above. This is actually the last spread in my section. Rothko's painting was blue and black (which I used as the background here):

Deb's calendar is turning out to be spectacular. Each artist has seemed to resonate with the song she was assigned and did a great job of depicting it - - and many times using Rothko's colors. Deb sent along a CD she had of all the songs inviting us to listen while we create. I enjoyed playing the CD and singing as I looked through each artist's pages. Fun! These are a few of the pages from other artists:

So, now that it is no longer October but the end of November, we are all "in the mood" (pun intended) for the holidays. The stores and television have caught up with Deb T and me --- 'tis the season! Can you start thinking "White Christmas" yet?

This spread looked more like "I'll Have a Blue, Blue Christmas Without You." So I must admit, I did have a little Elvis in my head as I was doing this one. He and Bing sing great together!

November 12, 2006

This is a greeting card that I altered and gave to my friend, Nona (See my last post which was about Nona and the great wall of drawers!)

I sanded off part of the background (left the little fairies at the bottom - you can barely see most of them.) Then I used Twinkling H20s, vintage papers, a postage stamp, and rubber stamps to fashion my own background. Last, I added the metal crown and wing. The sentiment I wrote inside the card said, "We're going to miss your magic around here." And that's the truth, Nona!

November 07, 2006

No! Wait! There are 78!!!

Yikes! I'm in absolute heaven!!! Once upon a time many years ago, I met a phenominal artist, Nona Pebworth, who makes original, loveable, one-of-a-kind teddy bears doning vintage baby dresses -- Nona Bears -- (Hallmark once photographed her bears for their greeting cards!)

"Mother's Cousin, Sally" - A Nona Bear original made by Nona Pebworth, of imported Merino Wool and wearing her beau's pin – VICTOR. (Three guesses why I had to have this one!)

I was at the home of Nona and Charles Pebworth (a retired university art professor whose well known metal sculptures are all over the land in museums, public buildings, and collectors' homes) when I met Nona - now a great friend and fellow church choir member - and I spied this incredible cabinet - filled with teddy bear makings - in her studio (the largest room in her rambling, ranch house in the country - and that's saying something.)

"Three times is Right" a pen and watercolor painting by Charles Pebworth. Hung in the Moody Gallery in Houston.

While I couldn't ever get one of Chuck's fabulous metal sculptures (one of my biggest wish list items), I did manage to afford this little watercolor which is somewhat typical of his paintings filled always with lots of calligraphy and usually autobiographical in some way. I didn't see the name of this one when I bought it so I didn't get to ask him the significance. Next time I see him, I will. The last one of his shows I attended was in Beeville, Texas where I took lots of photos. When I get a chance, I'll post a photo album of his work. It's incredibly creative.

Meanwhile, here's a sample:

Charles Pebworth pieces from the Beeville show. (Big House is about 10 feet wide! The other two are smaller.)

Ok, ok, back to my story...

A few months back, Nona and Chuck decided after 50 years in our little town, to retire to Arkansas where their childrens' families live (well three out of the four.) Check out that fourth one, their daughter, Alison Pebworth who is a super talented, award winning artist in her own right, living in California. She does fantastic, unique, and creative original surreal paintings. You'll love them . . . but I digress . . .

The week before my gall bladder surgery, Nona called to invite me to a preview of their garage sale. When I went into the art room to check out the awesome stuff available (Nona is also an antique dealer!) -- I saw my heart's desire, the cabinet --and exclaimed with a sigh, "Oh! There's that awesome piece of furniture I love." Nona said quietly, "Yeah, I have to sell that." I jumped right on it screaming, "I WANT IT!! I mean it. I want it!"

Talk about being in the right place at the right time -- oh my. There have been many bidders in line after me in case I backed out -- not bloody likely! No sir-reee!! It's now in its new home in MY studio where I counted the drawers (incorrectly the first time. LOL - forgot about the one that was in the shop getting its glass repaired.)

I'm having a terrible time deciding on which are the supplies important enough to me to be housed in my giant (8'5" long X 7'1" tall) prize cabinet! OH, golly, please don't hate me 'cuz I have the world's most unbelievably perfect studio accessory!! I had to wait some 25 years for it! Isn't it just too wonderful?

November 01, 2006

Alrighty then, these are the rest of the pages I did in Stacie Rife's calendar for September. (By the way, my surgery went swimmingly and I'm feeling great. Thanks for all your prayers and good words.) "Angel" is a collage with black gesso, Twinkling H20s, rubber stampings (MaVinci), pressed flowers, and collage ephemera. For "Angel Play" I altered a photo of a little boy skipping down a city street which was already in the calendar. I sanded off some of the background, painted with Twinkling H20s, rubber stamp (unknown), and collage items.

"Betty's Stories" started in a class by the inimitable artist and my friend, D J Pettitt with a sculpey transfer of DJ's original drawing which she had made and put in my workshop packet. I fused that sculpey transfer to mylar (thus the strange colors in the face!) and fused the whole thing to a piece of sheer fabric that had embroidered gingham flowers on it (given to me by my good friend, tablemate, and phenominal artist, Deryn Mentock. That's all I got done in the workshop on this piece. I kept it in my studio and just looked at it for months until at last I decided it needed to go in Stacie's calendar. So, I adhered it to one of Stacie's September pages that I had painted with Twinkling H20s, sewed on it, and finally added collage items, buttons, and a bow.

Now I believe I promised to show some of Stacie Rife's work from her calendar so here are the cover and a few pages:

(Click on any image to see and enlarged version.)

Stacie Rife is a creative, mixed media artist whose work is always inspriational. Besides her gorgeous, encompassing web site, Bailey's Bliss, be sure to check out her fun and informative blog, Stacie's Journal: A day in the life, where in addition to her interesting and fun journaling, there are lots of images of her art work, links to her incredible, original collages, assemblages, and prints on sale at her Etsy and Ebay sites, and a link to her fabulous Flickr photos as well. Stacie, I'm glad to call you a friend and thank you for letting me play in your altered calendar.